What Actually Happened to Princess Margaret at the End of ‘The Crown’ Season 3?
Warning: This article contains major spoilers about the end of The Crown season 3! So if you haven’t caught up and don’t want things ruined for you, please kindly peace out and read your astro report instead.
As predicted, the best part of The Crown season 3 (other than hot Prince Philip) is Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret. She absolutely nails Her Royal Highness’s vivacity and liveliness as well as her deep sadness—especially as Margaret’s marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones deteriorates. One of the most emotional scenes of the season comes during the final episode, when Margaret overdoses on pills.
This moment is pretty shocking for those of us who weren’t following royal news in the ’70s (due to, ya know, presumably not being born yet), and The Crown seems to imply that Margaret potentially tried to commit suicide. That said, the dialogue purposely dances around the subject, leaving it up to the viewer to draw conclusions. So, what really happened? We dug into old reports from the era to get more clarity, but the details are still a little murky.
First, a Reminder on the Scene in Question
The Crown season 3 ends with Queen Elizabeth being told about Princess Margaret’s overdose. Her Majesty learns that “the amount of Nitrazepam the princess took was quite critical” and that Nitrazepam is “a sedative, used in short periods for the relief of anxiety and insomnia.” At the same time, the Queen Mother unhelpfully adds, “You would say more indicative of a cry for attention than a genuine suicide attempt? A ‘cri de coeur’ rather than a ‘coup de grâce’?”
After this, we witness an emotional scene between Elizabeth and Margaret, in which Her Majesty asks, “Did you mean it?” and Margaret responds with, “I don’t know, possibly.” Considering that the real-life answer to whether Margaret intentionally overdosed also seems to be, “I don’t know, possibly,” I’m going to chalk this up to The Crown being intentionally meta.
So, Here’s What Really Happened
According to biographies, Princess Margaret did overdose in 1974—but it wasn’t thought to be a suicide attempt. As we see in The Crown, her young boyfriend Roddy Llewellyn had gone on an impulsive trip to Turkey at the time, and her marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones was falling apart.
No one knows the truth except Margaret (who passed away in 2002) and the royal family, but according to Christopher Warwick’s biography Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts, she said, “I was so exhausted because of everything that all I wanted to do was sleep.”
Meanwhile, biographer Theo Aronson claimed (via the New York Times) that Margaret did have “a nervous breakdown,” while The Telegraph claimed rumors she’d tried to harm herself were “denied by the Royal Family.”
Inevitably, there’s been a ton of icky tabloid speculation over the years about this. In 2007, one of Princess Margaret’s “closest confidants” told the Daily Mail that “yes, she did take an overdose, although how much it was done to create a drama, I shall never know. Remember, she was a great actress.”
Um. I think we can all agree this is a pretty f*cked-up thing to say about someone going through a hard time. And considering the details of Princess Margaret’s overdose were so embroiled in rumor and speculation, it’s also pretty interesting that The Crown chose to include the event in this season.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 24-hour treatment referral hotline at 800-662-HELP (4357) or visit FindTreatment.samhsa.gov for free and confidential help. In the case of a medical emergency, call 9-1-1.
You Might Also Like
